Nelson Mandela

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

It always seems impossible until it's done.

For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.

May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.

After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.

Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.

I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations. I have fought it all during my life; I fight it now, and will do so until the end of my days.

During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.

I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether this comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward.

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.

It is in the character of growth that we should learn from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences.

As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will.

Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front.